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Chandra Observatory
@chandraxray
Chandra's ongoing mission is to study the X-ray Universe. Operated for NASA by Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Legal: s.si.edu/legal
In orbitchandra.si.eduJoined January 2008
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Chandra Observatory
@chandraxray
Today Chandra is studying a supernova in Canes Venatici, "the hunting dogs." Nearby in the sky is NGC 5033. The supermassive #BlackHole at this galaxy's core is devouring stars, dust, and any other matter that gets too close to it — radiating light in many different wavelengths.
A close-up optical image of the core of the galaxy and its surrounding spiral arms. The core of the galaxy is bright, in shades of off-white. The spiral arms are reddish orange with darker dust lanes that appear tightly wound around the core. Flecks of blue stars, indicating ongoing star formation, are also present in the galaxy's spiral arms.
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Chandra Observatory
@chandraxray
🌀From hurricanes to galaxies, spiral structures appear in many different objects of various sizes across the Universe. The common thread? A physical principle that remains constant with time for a spinning object and applies over all scales.
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Chandra Observatory
@chandraxray
IC 1396A is situated about 2,800 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cepheus. Radiation & winds from massive stars are impacting clouds of cool gas, triggering the formation of new generations of stars. Learn more about star formation at: s.si.edu/3BNTnZI
This is a composite image of I C 1396 A in X-ray, infrared, and optical light. The nebula resembles flames licking up from a fire, in both color and shape. Stars in optical light, white, and in X-ray light, purple, are present throughout the image.
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@chandraxray
Later today, DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) will impact its target asteroid! The asteroid, Didymos, is about 780 meters in diameter and its moonlet, Dimorphos, is about 160 meters in size. For more info, including where & when to watch, visit: go.nasa.gov/3Sym8Ab
An illustration showing the sizes of the two asteroids in the Didymos system and the DART spacecraft relative to objects on Earth. Objects are simply illustrated and labeled with names and measurements in meters for each as follows. Bus, 14 meters. DART Spacecraft, 19 meters. Arc de Triomphe, 49 meters. Statue of Liberty, 93 meters. Dimorphos, 163 meters. Great Pyramid of Giza, 139 meters. Eiffel Tower, 321 meters. One World Trade Center, 546 meters. Didymos, 780 meters. Burj Khalifa, 830 meters.
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@chandraxray
Today Chandra is studying a supernova remnant in Dorado. Nearby in the sky is a dramatic region of space nicknamed the "Cosmic Reef." Made of two nebulas, NGC 2020 (blue) & NGC 2014 (red), the Reef is just a small part of a huge star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
In this optical view, N G C 2014 extends downward from the upper part of the image. Near the top, this nebula has wispy, complex clouds. Farther down, structures that look like soap bubbles are present, and slightly protrude from the outline of the cloud. Most of the nebula is in shades of red, however there is an area of blue at the top, right side of the image. Also, there is a bright area embedded in the nebula. It's a somewhat obscured group of hefty stars, each 10 to 20 times more massive than our Sun. A thin veil of aqua is present above the group of stars and there are sparkling blue stars throughout the nebula. The other nebula, N G C 2020, is a separate structure on the bottom left of the image. It resembles a smoke ring in ethereal shades of blue. At its center is a mammoth star 200,000 times brighter than our Sun.
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Chandra Observatory
@chandraxray
W44 is a supernova remnant located about 8,000 light-years from Earth. The remnant is interacting with the thick interstellar material that surrounds it, encouraging the birth of new stars. W44 is more than 125 light-years across and it's still expanding.
This is a composite image of W 44. The center of the image, almost from top to bottom, resembles a blue cloud. The blue cloud is X-ray light, showing hot gas that fills the shell of the supernova remnant as it moves outward. Surrounding the blue cloud is the wispy green shell of the supernova remnant, as well as the reddish molecular cloud into which the supernova remnant is moving. Both are shown in infrared wavelengths of light. Stars of various sizes are present all throughout the image.
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@chandraxray
Today Chandra is studying a cloud in Sagittarius. Nearby in the sky is the Swan Nebula, one of the brightest star-forming regions in our galaxy. Located more than 5,000 light years from Earth, the Swan is a glowing reservoir of hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur gas.
This composite image resembles the head and neck of a swan. Underneath what would be its beak and throat are wispy clouds in shades of blue. The rest of the swan shape is made up of complex cloud shapes in shades of dark oranges and reds. A bright, whitish feature in the image appears approximately where a swan's eye would be. Stars of different sizes are present in the nebula, as well as in the foreground and background of the image.
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Chandra Observatory
@chandraxray
Today Chandra is pointed into the constellation Ara. Nearby in the sky is the Stingray Nebula. This noteworthy nebula has dimmed considerably over a short amount of time. Its central star has expanded due to a temperature drop, and in turn it's emitting less ionizing radiation.
An image from 1996, on the left, is compared to an image from 2016, on the right. The 1996 image has bright aqua-colored shells of gas at its core. These shells surround a star that is a bright pinkish-gold. The nebula is somewhat shaped like an ocean stingray, with an outline in shades of gold and red. In the image from 2016, on the right, the nebula almost completely lacks the aqua-colored shells of gas, with richer colors of gold and red making up the majority of the structure. The stingray shape is not nearly as pronounced in the 2016 image, and the overall size of the nebula appears smaller too.
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@chandraxray
It's often difficult to determine the timeline of a star's demise. By studying the remarkable remains of a supernova in Dorado using
@NASA
telescopes, a team has found enough clues to help wind back the clock. More about the discovery: s.si.edu/snr0519
In this composite image, a translucent cherry red blob floats in a dark sky packed with gleaming white and golden stars. The blob is the remnant of a supernova, the debris from an exploded white dwarf star. This star exploded several hundred years ago, within Earth's timeframe. It's known as SNR 0519-69.0, or SNR 0519 for short. Here, the supernova remnant resembles a translucent ball of red jelly tumbling through space. The glossy shape is outlined by thin, more opaque red lines. A few similar red lines stretch across the surface of the supernova remnant, delineating bulges in the shape like the lines between the rounded plates on a turtle's shell. A wispy ring of grey clouds tinted with green, blue and purple sits inside the supernova remnant. In this composite image, reds and whites represent optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope. Greens, blues and purples represent X-ray data from the Chandra Observatory.
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Chandra Observatory
@chandraxray
Today Chandra is studying Centaurus A. This famous galaxy features a spectacular jet, thousands of light years long, that's generated by the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. In this Chandra view: red, green, and blue show low, medium, and high-energy X-rays.
This image of the galaxy calls to mind an abstract work of art. The center of the galaxy is filled with blue and green light. A central white dot marks an area of intense light. The gigantic supermassive black hole is located in this dot, however it's too small to be identified in the image. The outer regions of the galaxy are mostly shades of red and burnt orange. A jet of outflowing material, pointing from the middle to the upper left, resembles a cloud in the shape of a fantasy sword. Opposite the jet, a giant bubble-like structure blossoms out of the bottom right portion of the galaxy.
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Chandra Observatory
@chandraxray
Right now Chandra is gazing at a galaxy in Centaurus. Nearby in the sky is the splendid spiral galaxy NGC 4603. Young blue stars abound in the arms of this galaxy, some of their starlight obscured by thick reddish-brown clouds of dust, known as dust lanes.
This close-up shows a portion of the center of the galaxy toward the bottom right. A section of the galaxy's spiral arms extends up and to the left. The galaxy's center appears to glow from all the concentrated starlight. Blue stars speckle the rest of the image in dots and clumps, frequently interrupted by dark, reddish-brown dust clouds which obscure the diffuse starlight from the galaxy.
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Chandra Observatory
@chandraxray
This elegant sphere of gas is about 23 light-years across and it's expanding at more than 17 million km/h. The supernova that produced SNR 0509 may have been visible in the southern hemisphere around the year 1600, however, there are no known records of its appearance in the sky.
This supernova remnant is roughly spherical, resembling a large soap bubble floating in the air. The outer edges of the bubble glow in shades of red. This red shell is gas being shocked by an expanding blast wave from the supernova. Some areas of the shell, on the top and left side of the bubble, have ripples. The ripples have the appearance of fine silk fabric flowing in the wind. The interior of the bubble is filled with soft green and blue hues, material that has been heated to millions of degrees.
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Chandra Observatory
@chandraxray
R Aquarii: As a white dwarf star & red giant star orbit each other, the white dwarf pulls material from the red giant onto its surface. Over time, enough material accumulates that it triggers an explosion. The spectacular structures seen here are the result of past explosions.
This image of R Aquarii resembles a sparse brick-orange cloud in the shape of a cross, with a flash of white light at its core. The white light is ringed by faint concentric circles which resemble ripples from a raindrop in still water. Along the horizontal arms of the cross shape is a wavy string of purple clouds. These connect with the white core at the center. The bright light at the core is a white dwarf star with a relatively cool temperature, pulling material from a red giant star. The string of purple clouds is a jet of material shooting from the resulting explosion, observed by Chandra. The brick-orange cloud, observed by the Hubble Space Telescope, is evidence of much older explosions and jets.
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